Another US spammer Charged by CAN-SPAM

By Dave Nixon

The Federal Trade Commission has announced that a US judge has ordered a Las Vegas company to stop making weight-loss and anti-ageing claims and to cease sending spam.

In addition, Judge David Coar of the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, has ordered Sili Neutraceuticals and owner Brian McDaid to recompense nearly $2.6 million for purportedly making bogus advertising claims and sending e-mail messages in contravention of the FTC Act and the CAN-SPAM (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing) Act.

In the January 23 judgment, Coar also ordered the business, trading as Kaycon, to stop misrepresenting any products or services, including products prepared from the hoodia plant and human-growth-hormone-related (HGH) products. In August 2007, the FTC charged the defendants with CAN-SPAM violations and making false and unsubstantiated claims about hoodia weight-loss products and HGH anti-aging products.

Coar established that the defendants violated the FTC Act by misleadingly claiming that the hoodia products cause swift, considerable and enduring weight loss, and that the HGH products will repeal or reverse the aging process.

The company had claimed that users of hoodia products could shed up to 40 pounds in a month, according to the FTC objection. The HGH products could allegedly decrease cellulite, recover vision, cause fresh hair growth and progress emotional steadiness.

The FTC accused the defendants of distributing commercial e-mail messages that had deceptive subject headings, that failed to contain opt-out requirements and that failed to contain the senders’ valid postal address.

Sili Neutraceuticals didn’t have a listed phone number in Las Vegas.